20140103: Drama Review--Inside Llewyn Davis

Inside Llewyn Davis

Oscar Isaac

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 104 minutes, drama, music.
2. IMDB: 8.0/10.0 from 8,236 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 93% on the meter; 75% liked it from 18,934 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: not yet, still in theatres, 20140103.
5. Written and directed by: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.
6. Starring: Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis, John Goodman as Roland Turner, Justin Timberlake as Jim, Carey Mulligan as Jean, F. Murray Abraham as Bud Grossman, Ethan Philips as Mitch Gorfein, Robin Bartlett as Lillian Gorfein, Garrett Hedland as Johnny Five, Jerry Grayson as Mel Novikoff.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens in the Gaslight Cafe in 1961 in New York City in the deep of winter.  Llewyn Davis gives a beautiful performance, then goes out to meet somebody who wants to talk to him.  The somebody beats the nonsense out of LLewyn.  At this point, I was a bit low on context, and was not all that interested in the rest of the film.  Fortunately, I stayed.


2. The film ends on a repeat of the same scene.  The difference was that more information was given in the scene the second time, and everything made perfect sense.  In the repeat, one knows where Llewyn was going and why.


3. The large majority of the film is about exploring how Llewyn got to the final scene.  We meet Mitch and Lillian's cat, which escaped, causing all sorts of problems for Llewyn as he tries to get it back to his friends.


4. We meet Jim and Jean, who used to be in an act with Llewyn.  We see in great detail why that is no longer true.  Jim helps Llewyn get some studio work; Llewyn's haste denied him future income because he would not go through proper paperwork.  His agent Mel does not seem to be doing anything for him.


5. After the studio session with Jim, LLewyn goes to Chicago to talk to Bud Grossman, another figure in the music business.  On the way he shares gas and driving with Roland and Johnny.  He gets some alternate points of view, and something that was at least intended to be a curse.  He makes it to Chicago, despite the troubles that Johnny and Roland encountered.


6. Bud gives Llewyn a fair hearing, is not shocked that Mel did nothing for him, and even offers Llewyn a new job. When Llewyn is not willing to make a few changes to make him commercially viable, Bud offers him some reasonable advice.


7. Llewyn hitches a ride back to New York.  Along the way, he faces further choices, such as whether to meet his two year old son in Akron whom he just found out about in the last week.


8. Llewyn decides to rejoin the Merchant Marine since he's broke and everyone hates him.  Even this involves difficulties: past union dues, proper licensing, and meeting his ailing father once more.


9. Will Llewyn get to a stable place in his life?  Watch the final scene.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary:  Another fine film from the Coen brothers; catch it if you can.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10  Just wonderful.  The choices in lighting and camera work show strongly the sheer cold in New York, on the road from New York to Chicago, and in Llewyn's life.


2. Sound: 10/10 Lush, beautiful.  Kudos to Oscar Isaac and Justin Timberlake.


3. Acting: 10/10 Kudos to Oscar Isaac.  Excellent work by John Goodman, F. Murray Abraham, Garrett Hedland.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 The character studies are brilliant, plus the exposition of the protagonist's difficult passage is carefully done.